The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) yesterday alerted the nation to the reported cases of Lassa fever in Edo, Bauchi, Ondo and Ebonyi states.
The NCDC said compared to previous years, the number of reported cases at this time have been relatively lower – just over 400.
The centre said it was adopting a multi-sectoral approach to respond to the outbreak of the disease in the affected states.
NCDC Director General, Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, announced this during a briefing at the COVID-19 Updates by the Federal Ministry of Health in Abuja.
Represented by the agency’s Head of Epidemiology and Surveillance, Mrs. Elsie Ilori, the NCDC boss said: “Lassa fever is seasonal because it occurs more during the dry season. But we have continuous cases being reported in states we call hotspots, like Edo, Ondo and Ebonyi. We have continuous cases being reported from those states.
“Recently, Edo and Bauchi states reported a confirmed case. Initially, we had very high number of cases, but now we have very low number because the states have been very proactive. Our approach to Lassa fever has been multi-sector involving the Environment, Agriculture and Health sectors.
“We have not been reporting cases as we did two years ago. For this year alone, we have reported over 400 confirmed cases. In previous years, we reported over 1,000 cases as at this time.
“Lassa fever is something that we are living with, and we are trying as much as possible to make sure that we control the number of cases and manage the cases very well when they occur.” (Nation)
